


just a step away

by perksofbeingaiko



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Robron Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 01:52:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14094444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perksofbeingaiko/pseuds/perksofbeingaiko
Summary: Robron Week - Day Three: Distance/SeparationAaron and Robert have separate stag dos





	just a step away

**From: Robert (12:03 PM)**  
_Spagbol for tea tonight?_

**To: Robert (12:17 PM)**  
_Alright_

**From: Robert (12:18 PM)**  
_I’ll start it at 5. Love you._

**To: Robert (12:29 PM)**  
_K love you too_

Aaron let his phone clatter to his desk before he leaned back in his chair, yawning. He’d only been in for two hours, but today was all about paperwork and answering emails he’d been ignoring for days. He wasn’t really built for this sort of work, preferring manual labor to PDF documents that left his eyes crossing. Robert left him the laptop today, and it was meant to be a win-win; Aaron would get the rest of his work done in the portacabin and Robert wouldn’t be able to make work for himself at home.

They’d done most of the heavier work at the start of the week, intentionally leaving the piles of paperwork for that day so that there wouldn’t be anything left over for the weekend. Their wedding was planned for Thursday, and neither one of them wanted to bother with work in the lead-up.

Aaron hadn’t really got to plan their wedding the first time around, and he was more keen on getting involved this time. He’d felt lighter than he had in years, and he could even admit to himself - _and Robert under strict instruction never to repeat it_ \- that some parts of the planning had been fun.

He liked choosing the cake and the music. He didn’t have much opinion on decorations or venue, but he liked knowing there were bits of himself in his own wedding. Their first would always be one of the best days of Aaron’s life, but who’s to say he can’t have more than one best day?

A knock on the door startled him from his thoughts, and before he could right himself, Vic let herself in. “You almost done in here?” she asked him, pointing toward the mess of things scattered on both his and Robert’s desks.

“Not really, why?” he asked her, shuffling some of the papers together to make the place look slightly more presentable.

“Well, can it all wait until tomorrow?” she asked him, and Aaron sighed out and shook his head.

“Again, why?”

“Today’s your stag do! Surprise!” she said, jazz hands added for effect. When Aaron just stared her down, Vic grabbed his arm. “Oh, c’mon. Now, I know you don’t like surprises, and I wouldn’t have sprung this on you if it were _my_ choice, but Bernice gave me strict instructions not to tell you because she didn’t want Robert knowin’ as well.”

“Vic, hang on-” Aaron started, but had to cut himself off when Vic started pulling him out of his seat. He’d barely had the chance to grab for Robert’s laptop before she was leading him out the door. She stood by the passenger’s side of his car and gave him a wide-eyed “well go on then” look. He drove them back toward the main road, turning toward the Mill out of habit.

“No, you’re not goin’ home. You’re coming to mine,” she argued, but Aaron pulled into his own driveway anyway.

“Let me just drop this off,” he said, showing the laptop as he got out of the car. The sound of overly-loud music shook from inside their house, something poppy that Robert liked listening to while he cooked. He’d gotten into the habit of it; Robert would play his music loud enough that it’d pull Liv out from her room to get her to help, taking the time when Seb wasn’t napping to let him kick his legs sloppily to the beat.

Aaron couldn’t say he minded it much. The music wasn’t his taste, but it made their home come alive with laughter and too much noise that he’d grown to call familiar after his years as a Dingle.

He’d barely made it to the front door and practically had to wrestle Victoria for the keys, but he’d finally managed to get the exterior door open when Bernice nearly barreled her way out of the flat into the joint area. She stood in front of him, eyes wide and gawping.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked, dumfounded, as if it wasn’t _her_ that was standing in the way of _his_ home. “Victoria, I thought I said to keep him away!”

Bernice’s voice was loud and she was clearly on the other side of drunk, and Aaron didn’t want to deal with her right now. The music was coming out of the house in waves and bleeding its way into the quiet afternoon.

“I’m just droppin’ this off,” he said as he tried to push past her, but she just starfished her limbs against the door frame and glared at him.

“You are _not_ allowed!” she practically yelled. Volume control had never been her specialty, but right now it was more than he was willing to handle. He knew better than to try moving her by force. She was feisty and resourceful, and Aaron was one bad decision away from getting smacked by one of her high heeled shoes.

“Look, just give this to Robert, will ya?” he said, pushing the laptop into her hands and praying she didn’t drop it. She gave him a sloppy smile and poked at his chest.

“I always liked you,” she said, shifting gears, and Aaron didn’t even try to contain his eye roll as he turned back to Victoria, gesturing her to lead the way to Keepers. They walked halfway down the road when Aaron pulled out his phone, hoping for a message from Robert that wasn’t there.

“They’ll have taken his phone no doubt,” Vic mentioned, but Aaron still sent him a text. He’d get it eventually.

**To: Robert (1:12 PM)**  
_I gave Bernice your laptop. If it goes missing it wasn’t me_

“No offense, Vic, but why are you doin’ this for _me_? Shouldn’t you be in charge of Robert’s party instead?” Aaron asked over his shoulder as Vic steered him up the walkway and into the house. Gerry lifted his beer can in greeting when they entered, and Belle perked up from where she was sat next to Gerry on the couch.

“Well, seein’ as Adam can’t be here, I figured I’d try to make up for it. Plus, I’ve been your friend just as long as he has, so why not?” Vic explained with a smile, but Aaron felt the shift in her words and knew that the space between them, the one Adam usually filled with his too-loud belly laugh and excitable energy, was like a rift cut through the room, leaving it empty.

He smiled softly at her, trying to communicate the best he could that he appreciated what she was doing. He hoped that was enough.

“I offered to help,” Gerry butt in, “but she told me I weren’t allowed.”

“I wasn’t lettin’ _you_ anywhere near it,” Vic said, pointing accusingly at Gerry before turning to Aaron. “If I let him, he would’ve gotten strippers or God knows what else.”

“Oi, they would’ve been guy strippers, at least!” Gerry said, unhelpfully. “I reckon I could even be one of them one day,” he added with a grin, flexing his biceps and doing nothing to help his case.

Aaron squinted his eyes in confusion at Gerry, but shook his head, leaving whatever fantasy Gerry was clearly having behind. “Where’s Liv?” he asked instead.

“You mean your 16 year old sister?” Belle teased.

“Honestly Aaron, Robert and Liv aren’t your only friends,” Vic said to him, and Aaron felt his shoulders drop. He knew that he had a life outside of his family at home, but they were his favorite people. Sue him for wanting to spend his time with them.

“Right then!” Vic said, clapping her hands together. “Shall we?”

Aaron tried to ask where they were going, but Victoria and Belle kept tight-lipped. It seemed as though Gerry was kept in the dark as well, but that was mostly due to his inability to keep a secret when he was excited. He was great when things were properly important, but when he knew there wouldn’t be real consequences, Gerry couldn’t help himself.

He’d expected to get into Vic’s car, but she and Belle just kept walking down the road. The three of them were chatty as they walked, but Aaron wasn’t paying them much mind. When they passed the Mill, Aaron nearly made a break for it to try and run back home. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with Vic and Belle - _and Gerry_ \- but he would much rather be with Robert.

If he were there, Aaron would have probably relaxed a little easier. He wouldn’t mind chatting with Gerry and Belle if he knew that Robert was nearby, ready to share a look when Gerry inevitably put his foot in it or offer a brief touch just because they wanted to.

But Aaron supposed that was the point.

They weren’t _codependent_. They just enjoyed each other’s company over anyone else’s.

As they walked past the Mill and down toward the bridge, Aaron grit his teeth and accepted today for what it was. These people were his family in one way or another, and he knew that the separation wasn’t the worst thing, just as long as wherever they were taking him had beer.

Once the pavilion was in view, Aaron could see that the field was decked out with giant inflatables, each of them an obnoxiously bright color, smudging the landscape like paint splattered over the grass. The obstacle course took up most of the space, and at the end was what looked like a 4 meter high inflatable dart board.

Blessedly, there was a pop-up table set up with cling wrapped tapas and tins of beer, and Aaron made a beeline for it. The sunshine late morning sunshine was relentless, stinging Aaron’s eyes as he looked around. It was a warm afternoon, the turn of autumn closely incoming but not quite reaching their small village just yet. He was glad they hadn’t waited much longer for their wedding than they already had. Aaron loved the summer months, no matter what his hoodies might lead people to believe, but mostly he loved the way summer looked on Robert.

“So, what d’you think?” Victoria asked with a lilt in her voice, begging Aaron to like it without so many words.

“It’s,” Aaron started, pausing to choose his words. “It’s not what I expected.”

“Well, it was this or go-karting,” Belle said.

“And we couldn’t really go on a pub crawl since it wouldn’t be fair to Belle, so we thought this could work instead,” Vic added, gesturing out to the field.

“Does me good,” Gerry said as he ran over to the inflatables.

Aaron smiled, and while it wasn’t filled with the enthusiasm the girls were hoping for, it wasn’t altogether false. He _was_ happy that Vic and Belle had even bothered to plan something for him at all.

Belle made her way over to Gerry, leaving Vic and Aaron alone. She fussed with unwrapping the food and setting out the plates before she stopped to look at him. “And, if it makes you feel any better, Liv and Jacob will be around soon enough. I wouldn’t really leave her out of things, you know,” she told him. “Look, I know this isn’t what you wanted. This was always supposed to be something Adam did for you, and I know I’m not him and I can’t even pretend to be, but I just wanted you to have some mindless fun before you marry my idiot brother. _Again_.”

“Vic,” Aaron tutted, circling the table to hug his sister-in-law. She was getting teary, and he knew it had everything to do with Adam, and he appreciated her more than he could say. “I don’t need you to pretend to be Adam. If you _were_ , you’d probably end up with yourself in prison like he did.” The joke didn’t really land, but Vic huffed out a laugh anyway. “You said it yourself, you’ve been my friend longer than anyone else in this village. So, really, there’s no one else better to be here than you.”

Vic stared upwards to the sky to stop her tears from falling and gave him a smile, despite the fact that her lip quivered. “Alright, enough of this. You go on, I’ll finish up here.”

Aaron winked at her before leaving, making his way to the obstacle course. Belle and Gerry were already midway through it, Gerry struggling to stay upright while Belle weaved her way through. From here, Aaron could see the footballs set up in front of the dart board, and he intuited the game pretty quickly from there.

He felt that same pang in his chest again. The one that felt just the tiniest bit guilty about having a fun life experience without Robert there to share it with him. But mostly he just hoped whatever Bernice and Vanessa had planned for him wasn’t too torturous. He laughed to himself thinking about the disco music coming from the Mill and the image of Robert sat helplessly at the kitchen table while Bernice did a karaoke rendition of “If I Can’t Have You” in the living room.

Aaron supposed things could be worse.

He heard a stir behind him but wasn’t quick enough to react before someone jumped on his back, their blonde ponytail whipping his face as they clung on. Liv laughed in his ear, and laughed even harder when Aaron backed himself up onto the inflatable slide and dropped his sister onto it. Music started up from somewhere, and looking around he saw Jacob had set up some portable stereo on the table with the food.

As easy as that, the day was starting to feel more like a celebration as Liv and Jacob challenged each other in a race through the obstacle course while Gerry made his rounds with the food. Belle and Vic had set up the chairs Jacob and Liv had brought with them, and everything felt _fun_.

Before Aaron could think about missing Robert again, he heard the boisterous day-drunk yelling of Bernice and Kerry as they made their way over the bridge toward the pavilion, Robert and Vanessa in tow. They’d all been drinking, and Robert was laughing at whatever Ness was saying. He’d started to make his way over to them, but something about the ease in Robert’s face and how flushed with happiness - _and booze_ \- he looked kept Aaron where he was.

Robert was having fun, and honestly, so was Aaron. Their families and friends were mingling together, and it didn’t just feel like an inevitability of the small village they lived in. It felt more like their worlds blending together with ease, and it made Aaron love Robert more.

He picked up remarks from Kerry about the party being a bust, and tried not to laugh at how put out Bernice looked. He’d given in and met Robert halfway - _separation be damned_ \- and accepted a kiss from his husband and a hug from Vanessa. They were both covered in glitter and Robert was adorned in a rainbow “Groom to Be!” button while Vanessa had a button covered in cartoon penises fastened to her cardigan.

“You wearin’ that to the wedding and all?” Aaron said, pointing to Vanessa’s button and she spluttered but laughed.

“I might,” she teased before making her way over to the food. Aaron felt Robert tug on his hand and followed his gaze over to the inflatables where Kerry was on her back going down the slide while Bernice fell with every step she took. Aaron laughed but was cut off by Robert’s mouth pressing a hard kiss to his lips.

Robert nosed the side of Aaron’s head, muttering out “I love you” and “love it when you laugh” with a slight slur, and maybe Robert had been drinking a little more than Aaron thought, but from the state of Kerry and Bernice, he probably had gone easier than he could have.

Aaron didn’t want to think about whatever horror their home was probably left in, or the fact that he and Robert were one hundred percent going to make fools of themselves as everyone called them over to take their turn at the course. And he definitely wasn’t going to think about the fact that he was homesick for Robert after barely two hours of forced separation between them.

Instead, he focused on the way Robert held his hand and swung their arms as they made their way to the inflatables, and the way Robert kissed him quickly and easily when Vic begged them for a photo in front of it.

They were getting married in just a few days to come, and Aaron couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life feeling like this.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm at [strongboyfriends](http://strongboyfriends.tumblr.com/)


End file.
